Playing With a Heart
by Andra Black
Summary: Sarianah is now Pein's 'girlfriend' against her will. Yet, she has a plan that will hopefully thwart Pein's plans of bombing the school; To make him fall in love with her! Yet when Pein starts to respond to her attempts, Sarianah finds herself in a struggling battle as she begins to fall for him as well while someone else is starting to enter the love quarrel. Rated for content.
1. Chapter 1

**Howdy do, buckaroos?! I present to you the sequel to Watching the Heavens Cry. Although, I do have some bad news. I will be taking a break from writing stories due to lack of motivation and inspiration. Plus, you can get tired of writing at some points, and that's kind of where I'm at right now. I know it's the summer and all that jazz, and it's basically tradition for an author to be making shitloads of updates 24/7 at this time, especially if they're a high schooler. But I have other stuff I like to do and also have things planned out to spend time with my brother and my mum and her family. **

**Sorry for the inconvenience. **

Dainty fingers nimbly moving about over the keyboard, petal pink lips murmuring softly as chocolate irises flickered on the laptop's screen.

"How... to... make... a... playboy... fall... in... love... with... you..." Sarianah mumbled word after word as she typed, swiftly tapping the enter button as numerous results, though there was only one that caught her attention.

"Cosmopolitan: 10 ways to make anyone fall in love..." Quickly pulling out a sheet of paper and pencil from her book-bag and clicked on the link.

Carefully reading the lines she copied down the list by title.

"Step one; Let Your Body Do the Talking" she muttered, eyes twitching as she instantly got the wrong idea then daring to read the lines before deflating in relief.

"Science has proven that early body language is crucial to whether love will develop or not. Researcher Dr Timothy Perper found that when both men and women stuck to a precise sequence of moments, the couple wound up making a date.

According to Dr Perper, there are five subconscious body language steps that help develop love with a potential, and he calls it 'The Dance of Intimacy'..." she trailed off, face going blank as she processed the last word. Huffing with a roll of her eyes she resumed reading.

"Start with a nonverbal signal, anything between a smile and a nod to acknowledge the person in front of you. Step two is some sort of verbal communication (even a simple 'Hi' will do), followed by step three, which is turning your body to face the person's. The fourth step is small subtle touching while talking (like accidentally brushing against his arm), and the last step is synchronization.

"As though to conform their newfound attraction towards each other, the couple begins to move in tandem. They may reach for their drinks at the same time, sway to the music together," says Dr Perper. To use the Dance of Intimacy to your advantage, remember the steps and play them out in real life. So if a guy is staring at you from across the bar, acknowledge him with a smile. Or if a cute guy walks up to you, angle your body to face his. "When a potential levels sights at you, you must show you're willing and be a good follower in the Dance of Intimacy," guides Dr Perper."

Nodding in understanding Sarianah stored the info in her mental file cabinets and continued to the next step. "Step two; Use the Word 'we' Prematurely." Her expression turned to one akin to that of confusion, tilting her head curiously.

"Create the sensation of intimacy with your potential, regardless of how long you've known each other. Liel refers to this as the 'premature we'.

"Scramble the conversation signals. Say you're chatting with a potential at a party, ask about his feelings the way his friends would. 'Do you enjoy parties?' Then proceed to the lover's level using 'we' statements. 'Yes, we've really got stamina to last all night, don't we?'" Usage of the word 'we' subliminally makes him feel as though you're already an item or in very close, hence, setting the stage for further pursuit."

Pursing her lips the teen's face burned slightly as she pictures herself actually following these steps while blending them into a high school environment and not a bar club's.

"Step three; Confess a little secret." Sarianah hummed in approval. "I can do that, maybe tell him about Callie, even though he might already know about her considering how much he's always snooping." she grumbled the last part with a scowl.

"A fascinating study revealed that when a person of superior competence makes a mistake, we respect them more, but when a person of average competence makes a blunder, respect for him goes down. It stands true for budding romance as well. Confessing a small folly to your potential might actually help him open up and feel closer. In Liel's words, "If you sense your conversation with a potential is going smoothly, make a minor revelation about yourself. It creates intimacy." Make sure to only accentuate the positive and eliminate the negative. Avoid information overload, though. It's important that the reveal is very minor. Experiment with something along the lines of, 'I bite my nails' or 'My last boss was such a difficult person.' By sharing a secret, you let your potential know you're not on guard."

Biting her lip she continued on, and deflated again, but this time in a sense of dejection. "Step Four; Don't Play 'Hard to Get'." Sniffling a bit Sarianah pouted, slumping with a whine.

"Yes, we realise that's not what you were expecting. Ever since we've known of men, we've been told by every single person that playing hard to get the quickest—and only—way to a guy's heart. But, according to scientists and studies, that's not recommended. At least, not at first.

Four researchers tested and retested the hypothesis in five different ways and all five methods failed to change the result. Which means you might want to rethink your dating strategy.

When he asks you out, enthusiastically agree, 'Oh, I'd love to!' There's no need to waste time hesitating or trying to sound busy because he may get conscious and never ask again.

However, there is a loophole. Men enjoy competition. If they feel you're hard to get for their competitors, but easier for them, they tend to like you a lot more. For him, to know he beat all the other potential suitors makes you more desirable. Always let him know about your popularity status. "Subtly drop hints that you are hard to get for other men. But be very subtle." advises Liel."

Sighing in loss she regretfully scribbled down the step title before resuming to the next. "Step Five; No First Date Dinners..." Skimming down the lines she blushed even more.

"First date staple? You're probably thinking dinner. But if you're looking for him to fall deeply in love, dinner may not be the best choice for a memorable first date. There is evidence that you will appear more attractive to your potential if you put him in a vulnerable situation. Researchers have proved a strong link between emotional arousal and sexual attraction. Anxiety-inducing situations produce the same substance the early stages of infatuation secretes. Also, facing a stressful situation together makes you closer. Arrange to watch a scary movie together—it will get his anxiety levels rising. "Then, of course, it is nice to have dinner afterwards so you can discuss the traumatic experience," says Lein."

The brunette groaned in embarrassment imagining herself getting scared watching a horror film and clinging to him like he was her lifeline. "I hate these steps." she whined.

"Step Six; Establish similarity. So basically that means having a lot in common?" she asked herself before reading.

"Have you ever met anyone and immediately felt, 'This person and I have a lot in common?' Contrary to the old chestnut, 'Opposites attract', studies tell us lovers are drawn to partners with similar attitudes, values, interests, and outlooks on life because it makes them feel safe and secure. "We feel close to this person," explains Leil. "Love romanticises that closeness into, 'It's you and me, baby, alone against this mad world'."

But you don't have to be similar to your potential to make him think you are. You can simply use the right words to give him 'that family feeling'. "Pay close attention to the words and terms he uses," advises Lein. Maybe he refers to his job as 'profession', or calls his phone 'Blackberry." "Simply echo the same words back at him in your conversation, and he will feel closer to you instantly, without realising why" explains Lein."

Nodding to herself Sarianah couldn't help but admit that sounded accurate and made perfect sense. "Seems easy enough to pull off."

"Step Seven;Try an ego massage...huh?" Sarianah blinked. "Ego massage? Like swell his head by saying bullshit about how cool he is?" she plighted.

"Most people spend their lives trying to find that one person who will treat them like the special being they are. If you can make your potential feel that special, they will fall in love with you. But not just any bunch of compliments will do, explains Lein. You need to figure out the ones your potential craves. "There are those who want to be perceived as Mr Clean, a playboy, a princess, or a wonderful crack-pot genius," says Lein. "You must listen between the lines to uncover how your potential sees himself, and then support that self-image." So if he sees himself as a creative artist who hasn't been discovered yet, compliment him on his work and assure him how wonderful he is. If he is a little vain and insecure, keep telling he's good looking. Over time, your potential will associate you with positive, secure feelings and will need to have you around."

Sarianah dropped her head on the keyboard, fairly aggravated. "Step Eight... Wait a sec..." she abruptly uttered, brows furrowed as he realized it was the bottom of the page before noticing a 'previous' arrow, an smacked her forehead.

"Frog humping donkey faced clown." she growled, hitting the arrow and finding the actual first step. "Fucking lags always glitches up the damn thing." she ranted on. "Might as well make this step eight."

"Step Eight; First impression, last impression.

According to scientists, the very first time a guy sees you can be the moment he decides whether you'll be the mother of his children or just another face in the crowd. Liel's advice: since you could meet a great guy anywhere, dress for the kill every time you step out the door.

According to Liel, "We get lazy about first impressions if we don't get noticed the first few times. But the average sale is not made till the fifth sales call. So, give it more time." We realise that it may not be possible to have perfect hair and make-up every minute of every day, so simply resort to wearing lipstick as often as you can. In a recent study, researchers asked men to talk with six different women who sometimes wore make-up, sometimes didn't. The study revealed that the male opinion of each woman was very different when she wore lipstick. Chanel Rouge Allure, anyone?"

The teen's mind wandered to the stick of cherry flavored Chapstick she wore on occasion when the weather was notably dry. Would that do?

"Step Nine; Start working the eyes."

Her eyes became expressionless, lips pursed, and eyebrow twitching every so often as she read the paragraph.

"Some people might be 'butt people', others might have a thing for legs, but, say experts, everybody is an 'eye person'. According to anthropologist Helen Fisher, unrelenting eye contact stimulates a highly emotional state similar to fear. When you look directly into someone's eyes, their body secretes chemicals like phenyl ethylamine, or PEA, that stimulates the feeling of being in love. People gaze lingeringly at sights that please and immediately look away from things they dislike.

Your eyes are your biggest giveaways, when you're bored, the first thing to look away are your eyes. Direct eye contact triggers a primitive part of the human brain, calling forth one of two basic emotions—approach or retreat.

According to Liel, "When conversing with your potential love interest, exaggerate your eye contact. Push it up to 75 percent of the time or more if you want to get the PEA gushing through his veins."

"And finally~." She took a deep breath. "Step Ten; Be open to making the first move."

"Be open to making the first move

You're probably wondering how, or more, importantly why? Research has shown that women initiate two-thirds of all encounters. This too is part of nature's grand design. A female chimpanzee will actually walk up to the male and tip her buttocks towards his nose as a mating call. And while we aren't expecting you to be as brazen, when you do spot a potential, don't wait for his approach. "Nature decrees that you must make the first move," stresses Liel, "so there's no need to feel shy about it."

So what are the techniques that will get a stranger to take instant interest in you? According to one study, these are the five most successful first moves: smiling at him broadly; throwing him a short, darting glance; dancing alone to the music; looking straight at him and flipping your hair; and keeping a fixed gaze on him."

Blushing like mad the girl grabbed her hair. "There no _WAY_ in bloody hell I can pull all that off!" she shrieked.

Seconds later, Kisame barged into her room, looking fairly alarmed as he quickly search around before focusing his gaze on her worriedly. "I heard you scream?"

Blushing slightly she shook her head. "No no, I was just uh... Yelling at my laptop." Not exactly a lie, more like yelling at whatever nonexistent being that happened to hear her.

_'Wait, maybe I could try one these techniques on Kisame? Just to see if it works_.' she thought, wondering which to use.

Flicking her gaze to him Their eyes locked as she spoke, reaching up swipe her bangs out of her face. "Hey, Kisame?"

Said man paused, having started to take a step back to leave, but froze when their eyes met. A somewhat transfixed emotion glimmered in his beady eyes. "Can you tell me your last name?" she inquired, poking her tongue out for a split second to moisten her lips, using the saliva as a temporary replacement for lip gloss.

The brute's line of sight narrowed to her lips momentarily until jerked his gaze away with his hand covering a nervous cough. "It's Hoshigaki. Why?" Sarianah shrugged, casually twirling a lock of hair with her finger.

"Just curious. It sounds strong, it suits you perfectly." she stated with a small smile. Apparently her smile was contagious, since Kisame found himself grinning with a faint pink tinting his cheeks a light purple. "Thanks." he uttered, sheepishly rubbing the back of his head.

His eyes widened as if remembering something important. "Forgot to tell you that Pein had ordered Kakuzu to follow your mom while she's out of the state. He can't trust her since she's seen him."

The teen blanched at the news, mouth falling agape slightly. "Seriously?!" she piqued. '_I can't believe the nerve of this guy_!' Taking a deep breath to calm herself she made eye contact with him again after moistening her lips once more.

"I guess it can't be helped, but thanks for letting me know." she said, smiling at the end. Kisame blushed again, muttering "you're welcome" and closing the door, pausing for a nano second as if having second thoughts on leaving.

Smacking her forehead Sarianah cursed at herself. "I can't believe I just pulled that off, on a thirty year old man no less..." she muttered, face turning multiple shades of red.

"At least it proves that this stuff is for real." she added positively.


	2. Operation Stealing Heart Commences

**Playing With a Heart 2**

Early Sunday morning, and the teen was rudely awakened by something loud, annoying, but with a catchy tune. Mumbling curses to herself she rolled over and slapped her hand on the snooze button on the digital clock, but the beeping continued. It took a moment for her to realize that the sound wasn't beeping, but ringing, and Sarianah scrambled out of bed to rush out of her room in nothing but her white boy shorts and a dull grey sports bra, stampeding down the stairs and racing towards the house phone.

Snatching it from the docking stand she quickly checked the caller I.D. It was an unknown number. With furrowed brows she pressed the answer button and held it to her ear, and hesitantly spoke. "Hello?"

**"Hey Sari-Berry~"**

The girl sputtered in disbelief an literally screamed. "What the hell?! Pein?! What are doing with my house number?!" she demanded, whipping her head around when she heard Kisame walk in.

The brute instantly noticed her lack of clothing and turned the other direction with wide eyes, his face smacking into the doorframe and he walked out of the kitchen holding his face with a pained groan.

**"You should know by now that I pretty much know everything about you, including your little furry friend, Callie."**

Sarianah's eyes narrowed angrily. "What do you want," she glanced at the clock on the stove, reading that it was almost six in the morning. "especially at this gods damned hour?"

**"Is it a crime for your boyfriend to want to go on a stroll with his dearest**?" the ginger replied in a feigned sad tone.

His words reminded her of the list, and she bit her lip, thinking over her choices. '_No first date dinners_.' she thought, and carefully responded. "Where exactly do you want us to meet?"

**"I'll be picking you up from your apartment in half an hour. Be ready by then**." he uttered before the phone clicked, signaling he had hung up.

Utterly confused Sarianah quickly went back upstairs back to her room. '_So much for the scary movie, unless I can somehow get him to come over later on._' She shook her head, rummaging through her drawers, and selected a black and blue camouflage tank top with a pair of black capris. "My dark blue flats will go well with these." she told herself, placing it on the bed before stripping out of her 'pajamas'.

Pausing, she noticed she had forgotten undergarments, and scurried around her room butt naked to open a drawer and pulled out a matching set of plain navy underwear and bra. Minutes later Sarianah emerged from her room running a hairbrush through her long brown tresses, carefully untangling the knots and returning the soft, golden shine her hair tended to get whenever it was in bright sunlight.

Kisame came around a corner to greet her, but paused once he saw her outfit, a pleased grin spreading on his face. Sarianah met his gaze and humorously hummed "I'm Blue". The man laughed before asking, "Going out somewhere?"

The brunette nodded with an obviously unhappy expression. "With Pein. He wants me to go on a walk with him." she explained, and the brute seemed just as distressed as she was, but said nothing.

A sharp knock was heard at the front door, and Kisame walked off down the corridor as Sarianah went to answer the door. As expected, Pein was on the other side, patiently leaning against the doorframe and donning a simple pair of blue jeans with a chain looped through the black leather belt and black wife-beater. His feet hidden inside black and orange Reeboks.

The teen blinked in mild surprise, having not anticipated him to dress like this for a simple stroll. He actually looked like a punk style rock star. Either that or just your everyday teenage rebel.

Snapping herself from her ogling Sarianah closed the door behind her and the ginger instantly had an arm wrapped around her shoulders, already guiding her down the steps and onto the sidewalk. The brunette almost attempted to wiggle out of his arm, but remembered the list once again.

'_Step four: don't play hard to get'_ she reminded herself, and forced her body to relax, even going as far as to move closer to him. Glancing up for a second she saw a somewhat confused expression cross his features, but it was gone as quickly as it came.

Much to her surprise, his arm even left her shoulders. A warm shiver went down the girl's spine when his arm instead lowered to wrap around the small of her back, hand resting on her hip, pulling her flush to him as they continued to walk through the city.

It was silent for the most part, neither of them speaking until finally, Pein once again surprised her by asking, "Do you want to go anywhere? The movies perhaps?"

_'HOLD UP! Where's this sudden personality switch coming from?! I thought he only had to act like this during school and here he is asking if I want to go on a date!_' she mentally screamed, completely baffled, which was obvious since she was staring at him with wide eyes, but quickly dropped her perplexed face. '_Wait, this could be my chance to watch a scary movie, but it's too early right now_.' she pondered.

"Maybe later, but I'd be more than happy to go down to the park nearby, there's a bench next to a pond if we need to take a break." she suggested, inwardly glad on how smoothly things were going, but didn't get her hopes up too high. '_This is for the sake of the schoo_l.'

Pein merely gave her a small nod. To the park it is, then.

...

It was quiet minus the melodic chirps of the early rising birds and the couple sat together on a worn wooden bench stationed next to a fairly large pond. The water was clear with tiny blue dragon flies perching on top of the numerous cattails.

As much as she was enjoying herself, strangely, Sarianah was very confused. Why was he being... for lack of a better word; Nice? His arm was still hugging around her, but it had moved back up to her shoulders, causing her to lean against him and rest her head on his shoulder.

No, sweet was a better word if there was any. She wondered back to when she used the "steps" on Kisame, and apparently it was possible to mix a few together, they didn't have to go in any order. '_Should have known from the get-go, dumbass_' she berated herself.

"The outfit looks good on you." she uttered, taking note of the grunted "Thank you." Pursing her lips she tried again, this time snuggling closer to him, and he didn't seem to be complaining, seeing as he casually slid his hand over her waist.

_'Maybe he's not one for verbal interaction?_' she pondered, feeling butterflies flutter in her stomach when his hand seemed to caress her stomach and was starting to run up and down from her ribs to her waistline, thankfully never going further.

_'Yet_' she silently added, once again getting lost in her thoughts. '_It doesn't make sense. The only thing that seems to be working is not playing hard to get, which involves cuddling, yet so far "ego massage" isn't doing me shit."_

Sarianah was so engrossed in her thoughts she barely took notice of the hand that was cupping the side of her face, but it was too late when she was suddenly forced to face the ginger, his hot breath fanning over her skin.

The next thing she knew her plump lips were being drawn in by the soft movements of his own, tiny wet sounds making her blush even more each time their lips met repeatedly until the gang leader decided to take it up a notch.

Having lost the battle between mental and physical; that being her willpower and the close contact between them, the brunette gave in with a sigh, opening for him when his tongue traced over her bottom lip, and the two became lost in the languid, tantalizing dance of their tongues tangling together.

It slowly became more aggressive, the need to part for air becoming increasingly frequent as her wandering hands threaded themselves within his titian spikes, losing the battle for dominance when his hands drifted down to squeeze her bum lightly.

Pein ravished her mouth until she began to push on his chest, signaling that she needed to breathe. The teen rested her head against his shoulder, panting and shivering as the man snaked his hands beneath her thin shirt, tickling the soft skin of her back. Apparently he wasn't quite done with her.

Thinking fast she quickly murmured in his shoulder. "Not now, Pein." She could sense the irritation rolling off of the ginger in waves as he replied somewhat grumpily while releasing her. "Fine."

The warmth of his body holding hers faded away, and she felt a strange sense of loss. "We could always go to the café that's a couple blocks away. I haven't eaten breakfast yet, and it's almost eight o'clock." she suggested, hoping to perk up his mood.

'_You know what, fuck the list. I'll just stick with not playing hard to get and wearing Chapstick._' she decided. Dates were a great way to learn about your partner, and at least it wasn't a dinner.

Pein seemed to contemplate her offer and nodded, and both failed to hide a faint blush of embarrassment as their stomachs growled in unison. Sarianah couldn't help but giggle. "Guess I'm not the only one who forgot to eat."

The gang leader scowled at her, but averted his gaze nonetheless while standing, gesturing for her to follow. The brunette inwardly sighed, still unable to believe she was going through with this, not to mention she had a bad feeling something wasn't quite right with her plans, and it mostly had to do with his behavior.

'_It just seems too easy. Could it be that he already has feelings for me?_' she wondered, her brows furrowing at the thought, but she shook it off as they began to leave the park and walking down the sidewalks.

_Nah, he's probably just keeping up the act in case one of his "fan girls" is watching_.' The idea was more rational, however, it did not exactly please her.

Sighing to herself, she reached into her pocket to retrieve her Chapstick, quickly spreading the cherry flavored coating on her lips before popping the cap back on and stashing it away in her back pocket. Feeling eyes on her Sarianah glanced to the side to see Pein staring at her, his gaze fixated mainly on her lips.

'_So the make-up does work_.' she mused, somewhat surprised. Her face burned a bit as she shyly looked away, not missing the soft chuckle.


End file.
